Desperate Times
by RoseBright
Summary: In a tournament that finally seems to be just for fun, Yugi ends up falling ill. Kaiba fears that if he doesn't get better quick, then he will not be able to defeat the former and regain his title as the champion. To fix this, he steps in to care for Yugi. COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

Desperate Times

Mokuba woke up in the middle of the night to find his older brother sitting at the small table in the cabin with his cards completely spread across the surface.

'_Why does it seem like Seto never sleeps_?' he thought to himself as he stretched. It probably seemed that way because Kaiba didn't sleep like a normal person. He pushed himself day after day after day, until he realized he was just as human as anybody else and simply crashed. Despite the fact that it was unhealthy, Mokuba often found this quirk of Seto's amusing. How many times had he walked into the living room and found Seto facedown on the couch? Or discovered him fast asleep at the kitchen table with his head buried in his arms? The best was when he'd passed out at his desk and fallen onto the floor without even waking up.

At this point, Mokuba estimated that it might have been about three days since his brother had last slept. Now that this new tournament had started, there were nights where Seto wouldn't even return. Luckily for Mokuba, Yugi was the other duelist assigned to the cabin, so he wasn't alone or worried. It was also lucky that nothing insane had happened.

Mokuba took his eyes off Seto and looked across the room to the other bed, where Yugi had been asleep since before eight the previous evening. He said he had a headache and just wanted a nap, but then hadn't woken up. Seto was off dueling somewhere, so Mokuba just went to bed too.

"Seto?" Mokuba called softly. His brother finished straightening out his deck before standing up and approaching the bed.

"What, Mokuba?" he asked, his eyes already reflecting how dangerously close he was to sleep.

"What time is it?"

"A little before three," the elder brother responded as he hung his coat on a hook, then motioned his younger brother to scoot over; Mokuba obliged, happy that his brother was finally here for the night. As Seto stretched out to sleep on his back, Mokuba curled up in a tight ball and buried himself beneath the blankets. Of course, that's when he realized that he was now wide awake. He forced himself to stay as still as possible, at least until he was sure his brother was asleep.

It wasn't long at all before Seto's breathing had become deep and even. He then noticed that Yugi had developed a bit of a cough and wondered if he was starting to get sick. It sounded like it was echoing in his chest. Yugi rolled over onto his stomach to muffle the sound into his pillow; Mokuba then knew he was awake and carefully scrambled over his brother to avoid waking him. He went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and brought it to Yugi.

"Here, this will help," he said quietly.

"Thanks, Mokuba," Yugi managed weakly. He took a long drink. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"Nah, I was already awake. And I think Seto's so tired that he'd sleep through almost anything right now," Mokuba said with a smile.

"I didn't even hear him come in!"

Mokuba shook his head. "Neither did I, Seto's good at being quiet. But I hope you start feeling better so you and my brother can duel next week!"

Yugi suddenly burst into another coughing fit, and Mokuba helped him to a sitting position while hitting his back. The lamp on the other side of the room suddenly switched on, and Mokuba looked over to see his brother sitting up and watching them. Seto was about to ask what was going on, but the light made it very obvious. Yugi's face was flushed, his body was convulsing, and he couldn't catch his breath; the coughing was too persistent.

Finally the hacks subsided. "Sorry, Kaiba," Yugi managed to mumble through labored breathing, but his rival was already out of bed and down the hall. Mokuba's eyes followed his big brother as he walked into the bathroom, opened a cabinet, and walked back, thermometer in hand. He held it out to Mokuba.

"Check his temperature," Seto ordered his brother, who accepted it and stuck the instrument in Yugi's mouth, much to his surprise. A few moments later, he removed it.

"103.3 degrees!" Mokuba exclaimed, eyes widening. His brother went back over and grabbed his coat.

"You stay here with Yugi. I'm going to the store to get some medicine," he said shortly, then headed out to his car.

_Yugi needs to be well by next week for our duel, _he thought to himself. He'd invented the perfect strategy, and there was no way he'd lose this time.

He arrived at the store and grabbed three different types of medicine: a cough suppressant to stop Yugi's cough, acetaminophen to help his fever, and diphenhydramine to help him sleep better (though the cough syrup would probably help too). He also made sure to grab some cough drops and tea on his way out.

Back at the cabin, Mokuba was doing everything he could to keep Yugi comfortable. His coughing was making it difficult for him to breathe, and Mokuba didn't know what else to do.

"Hang in there, Yugi, my big brother will be back soon...I'm sure he loaded up on stuff to help you get better."

"He really wants to duel me next week. Though he could just have the title if I have to forfeit it..."

Mokuba shook his head. "Yugi, you know he would never want to just take it. He wants to win it. But I know he also wants you to feel better, you know, so you're not feeling _sick_."

Before Yugi could shake his head, Seto walked back in and placed a heavy-looking bag on the counter. The other two watched as he removed several bottles of medicine, a bag of cough drops, and a large box of tea. He selected the cough medicine, measured it out, and handed it to Yugi.

"This will stop the cough, so hopefully we can all get some sleep."

Yugi took the medicine and lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry for waking you, Kaiba. It happened so suddenly."

Kaiba didn't respond for a moment, but then instructed Yugi not to lie back down right away. He sat down on the armchair at the foot of the bed.

"Seto, go back to sleep!" Mokuba urged. "You've only slept about thirty minutes for the past three days or so...I can take care of Yugi."

"And I can take care of myself, Mokuba," he replied coolly. Mokuba already knew where this was going, so he kept his mouth shut.

After about ten minutes, Kaiba stood up and walked back to the medicine and took out a sleeping pill, handing it to Yugi. "This will help you rest better," he said, then returned to his chair. Mokuba handed Yugi the water again, and watched as he swallowed the tablet. They sat for a few more minutes to make sure his coughing was under control, then Yugi carefully laid back down and snuggled into his pillows. Mokuba looked over at his brother, who was just barely starting to doze off in the chair.

"I'll stay right here, Yugi," Mokuba told him, crawling down to the foot of the bed so he was near his big brother, but also close to Yugi in case something happened. Seto jerked awake, but was still half asleep, so when he saw Mokuba lying at the foot of the bed, he mistook it for his bed in his now semi-delirious/not fully awake state, and somehow managed to lie down next to him.

A few hours later, Joey and Téa arrived at the cabin, since Yugi hadn't shown up for breakfast. Joey first noticed all the medicine, but Téa's eyes fell on the three of them, sound asleep. Mokuba was sprawled out on back, his arm tossed lazily over his big brother, who was holding on tightly to the raven-haired child. Yugi was stretched out on his stomach, snoring due to the congestion.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," Téa whispered to Joey, motioning towards the three of them. Joey looked over and blanched.

"Do we wake 'em up and ask?"

"No," Téa said firmly. "Not now."

Mokuba shifted in his sleep and whacked his brother in the face, but Kaiba just mumbled and pulled him closer.

"But definitely later..."


	2. Chapter 2

Desperate Times

Téa and Joey were back in the park, still trying to make sense of what they'd seen.

"Did you see all those meds, though? It's like they were starting a pharmacy or something!" Joey exclaimed.

"Maybe one of them wasn't feeling well last night," Téa said, shrugging.

"I think it was Yugi!" Joey suggested. "I mean, when have you ever heard him snore like that? That wasn't normal for a little guy like him. Sounded like he might have a cold."

"Then where'd the medicine come from? It's not like that's a huge part of his travel bag...unless Kaiba went to get them. Maybe Mokuba's the one who's feeling under the weather."

"No, it's Yugi," a voice piped up behind them. They turned to find Mokuba standing there; his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Seto went to the store last night to get him some medicine. He's in bad shape, guys. And I think my brother's starting to crash too."

"We saw, all three of you crashed," Joey snorted as he laughed.

"Joey, don't you have a duel in a few minutes?" Téa said irritably.

"Actually, yeah. I better go. Tell Yugi I said get well soon!" Joey said, glancing at his watch and running off. Téa looked back at Mokuba.

"How about I go back and watch over them for awhile so you can watch the duels and get some fresh air? Try to clear your mind a little," she offered.

"Really? Thanks, Téa! I feel like I've been trapped in that cabin all week," he said excitedly, digging in his pocket. He produced a key. "Use this to get in, I locked the door when I left. Seto and Yugi are still asleep." With that he ran off, and Téa smiled and walked back to their cabin.

She quietly unlocked the door and entered. Kaiba was out cold at the foot of Yugi's bed, barely having moved at all; Yugi was still breathing noisily. Téa could definitely hear the sickness in his lungs, and felt a surge of sympathy. She walked up to him and knelt on the floor beside the bed, placing her hand on his forehead; the sensation was almost like touching hot metal. She looked over and saw that Kaiba had purchased acetaminophen, which she knew helped with fevers. She dispensed a dose, then returned to briefly wake Yugi.

His eyelids fluttered sleepily, then focused.

"Téa!" he said weakly, but happily. "Where's Mokuba and Kaiba?"

"Mokuba went to watch the duels, that's why I'm here...and Kaiba, um..." her eyes travelled to the foot of the bed. Yugi looked over, but only appeared a little surprised.

"We were all tired last night, they both fell asleep here and he just decided to stay, I guess..."

Téa nodded. "Anyhow, I wanted to check your temperature and give you this." She deposited the tablets into Yugi's palm as he opened his mouth for the thermometer. When she checked it, she was concerned to read 104 degrees on the dot.

"Yugi, maybe we should get you to a doctor...you have a serious fever," Téa suggested, standing up.

Yugi looked at the reading. "It's not all that much higher than last night...just let me take this and rest for a few more hours, and then we'll see," he pleaded, not wanting to do anything except go back to sleep.

"All right," Téa agreed hesitantly as she sat next to him on the bed, "but I'm staying right here next to you."

Yugi just smiled at her and laid down so that he was facing her, slowly drifting off. Téa sat in silence, listening to the sleepy noises going on in the room. She sat there for a long time until she noticed it'd gotten rather quiet. Yugi hadn't so much as stirred, so she glanced over at Kaiba, who had barely woken up and was watching her.

"Where's Mokuba?" he mumbled, eyes half-open.

"He went out to watch the duels. I told him I'd take care of Yugi."

To Téa's surprise, he simply nodded and his head dropped back down as he returned to sleep. It was rare that Kaiba just accepted anything without a scathing remark or ulterior motive. She sarcastically wondered if he wasn't sick, too.

A little while later, Téa checked Yugi and gave him some more cough medicine when it flared up again. She rubbed his back and prodded him to cough it all out of his lungs. Surprisingly, Kaiba woke up to watch, then stretched out, ending up closer to Yugi. Téa stood up and went to put the meds away. When she turned around again, they were lying side by side. Though this sudden sympathetic side to Seto Kaiba completely baffled her, she knew Yugi was in safe hands, and walked out to watch the rest of the duels right after planting a friendly kiss on Yugi's forehead.

Yugi curled up and shuddered. His whole body felt either like it was on fire or completely frozen, and pain shot through every limb. He slowly fell into a fitful sleep.

About a half hour later, Kaiba heard the door open, and he lifted his head to see Mokuba walk through. The kid ran over to hug his brother, then gave him a look of concern.

"Have you been sleeping all day?"

"Yes," Kaiba replied. "I didn't see the point in dueling when nobody else is worthy except Yugi. And I'm tired.

"Seto, it's almost eleven o'clock," Mokuba insinuated as sat down.

"That means you should be getting to bed then," Kaiba got up and motioned for him to climb in. "At least one of should stay with him."

Mokuba nodded and laid beside his sick friend, who was snoring softly and drooling onto his pillow.

"Téa must've really drugged him," he giggled softly. Kaiba put another blanket over them.

"I'm heading out. I need to check on stuff," he informed Mokuba, and whisked out of the room.

Mokuba blinked as the door shut, and was about to relax again when the door swung open and two large figures barged in and started flinging objects all over. He froze.


	3. Chapter 3

Desperate Times

Kaiba drove out to the lake, needing to get his mind straight. It wasn't normal for him to be genuinely concerned about anyone's well-being besides Mokuba's, yet he had a bad nagging feeling about Yugi's situation. Though he found his rival's eternally optimistic and friendly nature annoying bordering on ridiculous, it worried him to see him so blank and lethargic.

He watched the moonlit waves gently crash against the dark shoreline as he tried to convince himself that he was just worked up over the possibility of not getting his chance to defeat Yugi. There was no way he would let a simple cold stop him from competing, right?

_You're smarter than this, you know it's more than a damn cold. _The unbidden thought popped into Kaiba's head. Though he'd been asleep for most of the day, he thought he'd heard the girl say his fever had gone up and he needed a doctor. Kaiba, of course, had his own personal physician. He'd never cared for seeing doctors himself, but maybe this could be of use to Yugi.

Believing he'd solved the biggest problem of the day, he climbed back into the car and went back to the cabin. The door was open, he didn't leave the door open, did he? As he pulled into the gravel driveway, the headlights of his car illuminated two dark figures rushing out of the cabin and into the darkness.

_Mokuba better still be here! _He thought angrily as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and rushed to the door; it really wasn't too irrational to worry about potential kidnappings. After all, any enemy of Kaiba knew that was **the** way to force his hand, and it happened much more than what would seem feasible.

What he saw next would cause him both relief and alarm. Mokuba was there, luckily, but he was in panicky tears as he kneeled next to a semi-conscious Yugi, who was struggling to breathe and clear his lungs at the same time. Kaiba rushed over and picked Yugi up, instructing Mokuba to stop crying and call their doctor as he placed him back in bed.

After Yugi finally regained control of his breath and grew quiet again, Kaiba turned to Mokuba.

"What the hell happened here?" he snapped.

Mokuba shuddered at his brother's tone, but tried to ignore it at that moment. "Two guys came in right after you left and started ransacking the place. They started yelling about your deck and tried to grab me, but Yugi somehow fought them off." His eyes fell on the sick boy, who was almost as small as himself. "I have no idea how he did it."

Kaiba's expression softened instantly as he stood up and went to pull Mokuba into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba, I should have known that something would happen at some point...it's just our luck..." He looked over at Yugi and called his name.

Yugi opened his eyes. He didn't want to be bothered anymore. He just wanted to sleep and get this sickness out of his body. But his patience hadn't been completely consumed by irritability yet, so he just gazed over in the general direction of the Kaiba brothers.

"We called a doctor. He's on his way now to check you out," the elder brother informed him before pausing briefly. "Thank you for helping keep my little brother safe, even though it clearly did not happen easily."

Yugi lifted his violet eyes to meet the blue ones. "Sick or not, I couldn't do anything different."

The amount of gratitude (and something else) Kaiba felt made him very uncomfortable, so he broke the moment by walking to the window, willing the doctor to show up as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it worked, and no more than five minutes later a vehicle pulled up right next to Kaiba's.

Mokuba ran over to open the door for the physician.

"Hi, Mokuba," the doctor greeted the child, then nodded at Seto before locating Yugi. "Is he my patient today?"

Kaiba nodded, and filled the doctor in briefly before Yugi told him all his symptoms. Both brothers watched intently as Yugi was poked and prodded and told to breathe. Finally, the doctor stepped back.

"Sounds like you've got a nasty case of pneumonia, Mr. Mutoh."

"Can you prescribe anything for him?" Mokuba asked.

"Well, yes, I'll give some antibiotics...but he needs to be monitored because there's always a chance it could be viral. So call me if there doesn't seem to be any improvement in the next few days," the doctor replied. "I will send a nurse out with the medication as soon as it's ready."

Mokuba thanked him and led him out. Kaiba walked back over to Yugi, who was beginning to hack again, and administered some cough medicine.

Mokuba locked the door and turned back to the other two. "At least it isn't anything weird," he offered, trying to make things more positive. Yugi smiled weakly as he settled back down, but Kaiba looked directly at his brother.

"No, but it doesn't make it any less serious. I'm going to need your help, which means you need to get some rest. So go to bed," he said in his usual clipped way of speaking as he sat in the chair. To his surprise, Mokuba crawled into his lap instead of bed.

It couldn't hurt to compromise just this once, right?


	4. Chapter 4

Desperate Times

Kaiba managed to sit there doing nothing for the longest amount of time in his life. He didn't want to wake Mokuba, who was sound asleep in his lap, but he couldn't help that his mind was swimming in thoughts of what he _should_ be doing. Hell, he was a CEO of a major company. He always had something he could do.

Then again, he had been contemplating the events of the evening. What idiots thought he would ever leave his deck personally unattended, and that attacking Mokuba would be a way to secure it? Clearly, they were nothing but morons, but he wouldn't make the mistake of leaving his little brother alone again.

Nearby, a small gasping sound escaped Yugi. Kaiba immediately decided to use this as an excuse to put Mokuba into bed, whether or not the child woke up. He tightened his grip and slowly stood up. Mokuba's arms hugged his neck as he gently laid the kid down on the bed on the other side of the room. He pulled the blankets over him, the returned to tend to the now struggling Yugi.

He seemed to be attempting to cough (or maybe just breathe), but too much phlegm had become stuffed in his lungs. Kaiba quickly helped him into an upright sitting position and firmly pounded his back a few times. As soon as Yugi began to hack the stuff up, he grabbed the box of tissues on the table next to the bed and handed them over. A dazed Yugi blinked in confusion after his lungs finally gave him a break, and he just stared blankly into his blue comforter.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed the thermometer. "I need to check your temperature."

Yugi took the thermometer and put it in his mouth. Kaiba retrieved it a few minutes later. 104.2 degrees...not too much worse, but still climbing. He set the instrument aside and reached over for the cough medicine. Yugi accepted it, albeit vacantly.

Kaiba observed him for a few moments. The sick boy was shivering and completely out of it. He needed to rest, but Kaiba knew that if he laid down again, then the mucus would regroup in his already fragile lungs. To solve the problem, Kaiba retrieved all the pillows from his own bed (minus the one Mokuba was using) and stacked them around Yugi, creating a sort of fluffy fortress.

"Don't lie down again," he warned his rival. "Lean against them so you can breathe better. It will help to stay sitting up."

Yugi obeyed and leaned into the pillows. He wasn't quite ready to fall back to sleep; the room seemed to be spinning around him in spirals. He watched lethargically has Kaiba pulled out a laptop and settled into the chair at the end of his bed, unaware of his patient's wakefulness until there was a cough. It was a small hack, but even in his fever-induced stupor Yugi was mildly shocked by how fast Kaiba's eyes departed the computer screen and fixed upon him.

"Yugi, when was the last time you ate?" the brunette suddenly demanded. Yugi shook his head, a gesture indicating he did not recall the last time he ate, nor did he want to eat. Kaiba ignored the last part and set aside his laptop.

"You have to eat something."

Yugi discovered he was too weak to even speak, so he just shook his head once again.

_Fine, _Kaiba thought to himself as he walked to the counter. _No food_. _But I'm going to force that tea down his throat if it's the last thing I do._

Yugi couldn't even muster the energy to turn and watch whatever Kaiba was doing. He heard soft clinks and clanks, water, and the microwave. The door opened before the beep; Yugi vaguely wondered if it was to avoid waking Mokuba or if Kaiba had that weird microwave-bomb-diffusing obsessive-compulsion that everybody else in the world had. Maybe it was a combination of both.

"You're at least going to have to drink this," Kaiba ordered as he sat on the edge of the bed, a rather large mug in his hand. Yugi accepted it half-heartedly, but grew a bit agitated when Kaiba didn't move and made it clear he wasn't going to until he started drinking the tea.

So Yugi took a sip. It was hot and seemingly tasteless, though that was definitely due to his congestion; however, as soon as it slid down his throat, he did feel a bit of energy slip back into his body. After finishing about half, he looked at Kaiba.

"Thank you."

Before the elder Kaiba brother needed to respond, there was a knock at the door; the doctor's prescription had arrived. He walked briskly to the door and accepted the bag, then immediately gave Yugi his first dose.

Kaiba looked at the clock. It was just after 6 in the morning; sunlight had just barely begun breaking through the sky. He glanced back over at Yugi, who had just finished the hot drink and yawned. Kaiba took the mug and deposited it in the sink, then leaned against the counter and waited.

Yugi's large violet eyes had begun droop very suddenly. Unbeknownst to him, the elder brother had crushed up a couple of the sleeping tablets and mixed them into the tea in order to get Yugi to sleep. It was an old trick he'd used on Mokuba when the kid got sick; that way, he would simultaneously get rest _and_ cease whining about everything.

Suddenly, the sick boy's body slumped over against the pillows, his mouth slightly open. A flicker of a smile graced Seto Kaiba's face before he returned to work on his laptop for awhile before Mokuba woke up.


	5. Chapter 5

Desperate Times

Mokuba woke up to the sun shining on his face and the sound of his brother rapidly typing on a keyboard. He sat up, yawning, and looked across the room at Yugi, who was completely crashed out while sitting half way up, his arms thrown over the copious amount of pillows surrounding his small body. Mokuba groaned inwardly and looked at his brother.

"Seto, did you slip Yugi pills?" he demanded of his big brother.

"Rest is important when one is sick," Kaiba responded without taking his eyes off the screen.

Mokuba rolled his eyes at the typical Seto Kaiba answer...short and vague, never confirming nor denying a thing. "I know why you do that with me, but you can't just go around drugging people to get them off your back."

Kaiba suddenly shut his laptop and glared at Mokuba. "I don't give you medicine to 'get you off my back,' I do it because when you're not feeling well, what you need to do is sleep...and you always find something else to do instead."

Mokuba shrugged. "Okay, so that makes me just like you."

The elder brother ignored that remark. "Yugi was having a hard time, and I solved the problem. Simple as that."

A few moments of silence passed until there was a knock at the door. Mokuba leapt out of bed to answer it. Téa and Joey stood at the threshold.

"Hey, guys," he greeted Yugi's friends, ushering them inside. "Yugi's sleeping, Seto drugged him."

Téa whirled around and glared at Kaiba.

"You _bastard_!" she hissed angrily, though her voice was kept low enough as to not disturb the sick boy.

"Yeah!" Joey joined in. "You're such a re...a repo...a..." he struggled to call Kaiba a 'reprobate,' but failed to pronounce it correctly.

"Come on, Wheeler, _talk_ the _words_," Kaiba chided him, while turning a truly dark, nearly evil glare onto his brother, who knew he'd gone too far. He then addressed the group. "I gave him sleeping pills so he could sleep. Last I checked, I was the only one up and paying any attention to the little problem we've got here. Whose doctor checked him out last night? Mine. And how many of us were present to hear the diagnosis? You two losers certainly weren't. So before you start with me, look at your own idiocy."

Mokuba knew he'd severely angered his brother, so when Joey and Téa turned to walk out the door, he followed at their heels.

"Can you believe that?" Joey seethed as soon as the three had reached the park. "Poor Yugi's been out of it for days...and all Kaiba does is crap like _this_."

Mokuba dropped his head, feeling bad about both angering his brother and betraying Yugi's friends.

"Actually...I think I get it," Téa said hesitantly. Joey and Mokuba looked over at her, both in different sorts of awe. "I mean, maybe his ways are a little unorthodox, but from what I saw a couple days ago, Yugi needs all the rest he can get. And he does seem to actually care about getting Yugi well again...Mokuba, what did the doctor say?"

"Pneumonia," Mokuba told her. "He gave Yugi antibiotics."

Joey scowled, but couldn't argue. The girl did have a point.

"I'm going to go back and have a word with Rich Boy," he announced, and promptly proceeded to leave Mokuba and Téa gaping behind him.

Joey walked into the cabin through the still open door, about to call Kaiba out, but then he saw what was going on.

Yugi was propped up against all the pillows, elevated just enough so the washcloth placed on his forehead would stay put. Kaiba sat at the edge of the bed, thermometer in hand, watching intently for the reading. He had a look of worry on his face; Joey had only seen this particular expression before in situations pertaining to Mokuba's safety.

"Make yourself useful, Wheeler, and give me my keys," he said without removing his eyes from the thermometer, motioning towards the keys on the counter. Joey scowled, but did what he was told.

"Where are you going?" he demanded as he dropped the keys in Kaiba's hand.

The elder Kaiba brother didn't respond. He accepted the keys and gently scooped Yugi up, then walked towards the door.

"Kaiba, cut the silent crap, that's my best friend you've got there. How would you like it if your brother was sick and no one told you what was going on?"

Kaiba stopped and turned around, glaring at the blonde. "His fever is over 105 degrees. I'm taking him to the emergency room." He paused, and couldn't believe he was about to say what he said next. "Come along if you have to."

Joey followed Kaiba to his car, and insisted that Yugi stay in back with him so he could keep an eye on his friend. Kaiba allowed it, then got into the driver's seat and shoved the keys into the ignition.

"Wait, here come Téa and Mokuba!" Joey cried. Kaiba waited for them to approach, but demanded that they get in the car _now_ if they wanted to go with. The two of them did.

"What's wrong?" Téa asked worriedly as she slid in the back beside Yugi.

Joey propped the sick boy against his shoulder so Téa could settle in. To his dismay, Yugi stirred, however, his eyes remained closed.

"We're going to the hospital. Yugi's fever is going crazy," Joey replied to the girl in a low voice, hoping Yugi wouldn't catch that.

As Kaiba began driving down the gravel path to the road, he opened all the windows. Joey threw him a nasty look.

"What're you doing, it's _cold_ out there!" he said, shortly before realizing that was exactly the point. Kaiba was trying to cool down Yugi's surroundings, hoping that it would in turn lower his fever. He simply sneered back at Joey through the rear-view mirror.

"Joey...stop fighting with him...please," Yugi's weak voice pleaded suddenly. Joey looked down into the pained and tired violet eyes, and his expression softened as he nodded.

"Anything for you, Yug," he said softly as he shifted Yugi's weight against his shoulder. The last thing any of them wanted was to cause the sick boy any unneeded stress, so Joey vowed to keep his tongue in check.


	6. Chapter 6

Desperate Times

The emergency room was annoyingly busy. The doctors and nurses seemed to fly in and out. Yugi had been hooked up to an IV and given some aspirin and oxygen, but other than that, there didn't seem to be much that they could do except wait for the fever to drop.

Mokuba turned shyly to his brother and gently tugged his hand. "Seto, can I talk to you for a minute? Out there?" He motioned to the hallway.

Kaiba walked out, followed by his little brother. "What do you need?"

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier about Yugi and the medicine. I was just mad because it didn't seem like a good idea, but now I understand." Tears filled the little Kaiba's eyes, begging for forgiveness.

The elder Kaiba couldn't stay mad at the tears of his innocent little brother. He knelt down and pulled Mokuba into a quick hug, assuring him they were good, and led him back into the hospital room to keep an eye on Yugi.

Joey had passed out in a chair and was snoring loudly, and Téa kept whacking him every few seconds to shut him up, but to no avail.

After what felt like forever, the nurse finally announced that his fever was down to 102 degrees. Yugi was released, and they all headed back to the tournament. Joey and Téa headed back to their cabin, and Seto and Mokuba helped the sick boy back into bed.

Yugi was a bit more alert now, and it gave Kaiba hope for their duel again. He instructed his little brother to get Yugi a bottle of water. Mokuba obeyed.

"Thank you, Mokuba," Yugi said with a smile. He drank, then looked at both of the brothers. "You should both go and do something else, I'm feeling a little better. I'll be fine."

"If I wanted to do something else, I'd be doing it," Kaiba answered. Yugi knew his rival well enough to know that the snappy retort was actually a very rare compliment in disguise.

Mokuba watched as his brother pulled out his laptop again. He wanted to tell him just stop working and just take a nap -he'd been up all night taking care of Yugi, after all- but he figured that wasn't the best choice of conversation, especially after earlier. Then he got an idea...

"Hey, do you guys want some soup? I'm hungry," the younger brother announced to the other two. Yugi accepted, and the elder brother let a grunt, which Mokuba knew meant he'd eat it if it was put in front of him. He opened a couple cans and heated them up, then poured them into two separate bowls. It was creamy chicken rice, so he carefully dropped a couple of the white sleeping pills in the bowl meant for Seto, hoping that he'd just swallow them. He wasn't exactly paying attention to anything except his laptop.

Mokuba served them, then quickly scarfed his own down. Yugi had actually managed to finish half of his before feeling worn again, and Mokuba smiled at that and gave him his second dose of antibiotics.

He then began to watch his brother -casually, but intently and discreetly. Mokuba went over to collect the bowl, and was ecstatic when he found it empty. He cheerfully washed the dishes and sat down at the edge of Yugi's bed.

"How are you feeling right now?" he asked.

"I'm a little bit better," he replied with a tired grin. "Though it's going to take a little while longer though to be _completely_ better, I think." He coughed and settled into the mountain of pillows. Mokuba turned his attention back to his brother, who was yawning.

He watched in silence until Kaiba suddenly shut his laptop and looked straight at Mokuba, shaking his head. "I know you put pills in that soup."

The kid tried to suppress the smile, but failed. His older brother knew he couldn't even get angry, and shook his head as he walked over to the other bed. He threw the covers back, then crawled in and fell asleep.

Mokuba was suddenly bored. He supposed he could sneak onto his brother's laptop and play games, but it was probably best to wait for awhile before trying that. Seto wasn't always the heaviest sleeper.

"Hey, Mokuba, can you do me a favor?" Yugi's weak voice came from his bed. The younger Kaiba brother's head popped up as he hadn't realized Yugi was awake. "Can you hand me the cough drops?"

Mokuba grabbed the cough drops and handed them to Yugi, who thanked the younger boy.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, and Yugi shrugged.

"It's strange...I'm exhausted, but my body won't let me rest...kind of like Kaiba," Yugi noted with concern about his rival, who had begun tossing and turning during their conversation. Mokuba glanced across the room and nodded.

"Seto does that a lot. He'll move around for awhile, then calm down. I think his dreams are weird, but he doesn't talk about it. You kind of just have to let him sleep and hope he actually rests."

They watched Kaiba thrash around for a moment before Mokuba picked up the thermometer. "Let's check your temperature to see where it's at."

He poked it into Yugi's mouth. When it was removed, it read 103 degrees.

"It's up a degree from the hospital..." he whispered, and looked at his friend. He glanced around, wondering what to do, then noticed the window. _Seto had opened all the windows in the car to let in cool air to help Yugi_. Mokuba crawled across Yugi and opened the window.

"It's going to be a little cold, but it'll help your fever," he promised. "I'll close it before it gets _too_ cold."

Yugi smiled. "Maybe you should cover your brother up better, so he doesn't get sick too."

Mokuba looked over at his brother. He'd calmed down, as Mokuba had predicted, but the blankets were halfway onto the floor. He walked to the elder Kaiba and fixed the quilts and comforter so they covered him. Seto woke to the movement around him, and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing, Seto, your blankets just fell off," he said quietly, straightening the comforter and stepping back. "Go back to sleep."

"How's Yugi?" he inquired, raising himself onto his elbow.

"I've got it all under control," Mokuba urged, gently trying to make his big brother lie down again, but to no avail.

"Where's my laptop?"

"If you don't go back to sleep I'll _break_ it."

Kaiba glared at his brother, but let his tiredness win. He laid back down as Mokuba straightened the covers again, rolling his eyes. Yugi couldn't help laughing gently at the interaction.

"Every single day. I just can't get a break," Mokuba told Yugi dramatically, to which Kaiba popped right back up and shook his head vigorously at Yugi to assert Mokuba's wrongness.

"Liar," he chided his little brother.

Mokuba whirled around and tackled his big brother, who grabbed him and held him in a hostage-like hug until finally allowing him to wriggle free and cuddle up beside him, though he continued to provoke the little Kaiba into playful bickering. Yugi watched on in amusement, realizing that Kaiba certainly was a different person once his guard was dropped, though he might never admit it.

However, all three of them had to admit that it was nice to have a more relaxed evening than the recent previous ones.


	7. Chapter 7

Desperate Times

The evening had continued to be peaceful. Mokuba had logged onto his brother's laptop and pulled up a movie to watch with Yugi, whose worsening cough had been the one hitch on an otherwise smooth road. Mokuba sat on Yugi's bed, the computer resting between them as they leaned back against the mountain of pillows. Kaiba attempted to get a little more rest, but failed due to the unsettling feeling in his stomach. He knew his guard was dropping with Yugi, and it scared him.

He stood outside the cabin, watching the last duelists of the night scurry off to their own lodgings. His head snapped towards an altercation involving an all too familiar male voice in the near distance.

"Give him back his deck, you son of a-UGH!" the voice was cut off following a muffled thud, presumably a fist to the abdomen. Two other figures ran in different directions.

"You idiot, go find something else to do. No one likes a buzzkill," retorted a second unknown male voice.

Kaiba walked briskly and silently toward the fight, completely unnoticed. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and fell upon Joey Wheeler, who was doubled on the ground in pain. The second duelist was dressed in all black and had just pulled out a rather small yet serious-looking knife, poised to attack. Joey attempted to kick him away, but to no avail.

Kaiba leapt out to prevent the attack, but only managed to knock him to the side; the knife was buried in Joey's left shoulder. He cried out in anguish, which fueled Kaiba's anger for some ambiguous reason.

"Back off, jerk," he growled at the boy in black, stepping over Joey. The boy snorted, then lunged at Kaiba, who grabbed his arm and tossed him into the nearby pond. He jumped up, spluttering, then ran the opposite way, shouting profanities.

"He's got some kid's deck..." Joey managed to say, breathing heavily with the pain. Kaiba glanced around, but saw no kid and no deck. Deciding to ignore the comment, he knelt down beside Joey to haul him up, but at the lightest touch, Joey screamed.

"_What the hell was that_?!"

Kaiba pulled him up anyway, restraining him against his will, but being very careful about the knife. Joey continued to be obnoxious, but had no choice in the matter as he was dragged back to the cabin.

"Wheeler, you have a knife sticking out of your back, and so help me God, if you don't shut up I will shove it out through your chest instead," Kaiba threatened as they reached the door. There was a very good chance Yugi and his little brother were awake, and they didn't need to stress anymore than what was absolutely unavoidable.

Joey fainted at his words, falling forward. Kaiba was quick enough to grab him and bring him inside. Yugi had fallen asleep, but Mokuba was still awake and watching the laptop screen. When Kaiba walked in carrying the unconscious boy, Mokuba gasped.

"_Mokuba, go get the first aid kit _**_now_**_ and keep quiet._" Kaiba's words were an absolute life-or-death command, meaning he'd better stay silent and get the kit FAST or be murdered by his big brother.

Joey was placed on his stomach on Kaiba's bed. The elder brother inspected the knife. It wasn't big enough to do any serious damage, but was definitely lodged well in the shoulder. He removed the blonde's jacket and shirt quickly, but as gently as possible. Mokuba reappeared and placed the first aid kit right next to Joey's head, then stepped back.

Kaiba decided it would be okay to remove the knife. He grasped it and heard a little wince from his brother behind him, but ignored it and removed the object from Joey's shoulder and placed it on the box containing the emergency supplies. Blood began to pool, so Kaiba tore off his white trench coat and pressed it firmly over the wound.

Joey stirred and groaned loudly. Then his eyes caught the knife and he began hyperventilating; this was slightly alarming, but Kaiba was quite relieved that he was unable to speak. Kaiba grabbed it and turned to Mokuba, whose greyish-blue eyes were frozen wide in fear.

"Mokuba, go put this on the counter," he instructed firmly, but gently. Mokuba did so, but his anxious movements accidentally woke Yugi.

"Yugi..." Mokuba said, both as a diversion and a warning to his brother, but the violet eyes had already fallen on his best friend.

"Joey!" Yugi cried out in horror at the sight of the somewhat large amount of blood. He leapt out of bed, only to be reminded that he wasn't strong or well yet. The room swirled around him and he wobbled backwards, clutching the edge of the bed.

The injured boy attempted to get up and see his friend, but Kaiba pushed him down roughly with both arms.

"Don't you dare think about moving, Wheeler, and Yugi, go back to bed before you really get sick. I can take care of this." Kaiba shook his head in annoyed exasperation, wondering when he'd been elected Caretaker of the Dork Festival. That was one title he definitely did _not_ mind losing. He checked the wound, and was relieved to see that the bleeding had slowed considerably, even though it hadn't completely stopped; however, he couldn't help but to be mildly irritated about the blood soaking his coat and covering his hands.

For the first time, Yugi pulled a page out of the Kaiba book and ignored what he was told, stumbling stubbornly over to the other bed. Mokuba ran over and helped Yugi to sit down next to Joey, while the sick boy broke out in a coughing fit.

Joey dared to lift his head and look backwards, only to be shoved down once again as Kaiba took his frustration out on him.

"_Ow. _Damn it, Kaiba, are you _trying_ to kill me?"

"You have me confused with that other guy," Kaiba said simply, examining Joey's injury again as the blonde growled in response. The elder brother looked over at the younger. "Mokuba, get Yugi some cough medicine, his antibiotics, and a sleeping pill."

The child nodded and did so, rubbing Yugi's back after administering the medication to alleviate his coughing. Kaiba removed his coat from Joey's wound and set it aside. He opened the first aid kit and pulled out gauze, tape, and ointment, then looked at his bloodstained hands.

"Stay down," he told Joey as he went to wash his hands of the blood bath. After he returned, he applied the ointment to the injury, ignoring the fact that Joey shuddered and groaned loudly into the pillow at the touch, though it definitely looked like it hurt. He then placed several large squares of gauze over the area and taped them firmly against Joey's skin.

"Don't move," Kaiba instructed Joey, albeit harshly. "You can stay here tonight." He turned to Yugi, who had passed out horizontally across his bed, picked him up and deposited him in his bed on the other side of the room, then sat down in the chair, rubbing his temples.

Mokuba walked over and thrust his computer into his lap.

"Here, do some work." The younger Kaiba brother was very proud of how much his big brother was helping people. But Seto shook his head, pushed the laptop to the side, and pulled Mokuba onto his lap.

"How about you pick out a movie for us to watch?" he told his little brother tiredly, who smiled and scrambled to grab the computer. Kaiba rested his chin on the child's shoulder, strangely ready to watch a movie, presumably about some superhero.


	8. Chapter 8

Desperate Times

Yugi opened his eyes early the next morning, and was shocked to find himself in his own bed. He remembered having trouble with coughing after seeing Joey, then Mokuba had given him several pills and some cough medicine. He figured he must have fallen asleep shortly after that and someone must have brought him to his own bed...

He glanced around the room. Kaiba had fallen asleep in the chair at the end of Yugi's bed with a lightly snoring Mokuba clutched tightly in his arms. The laptop was dangerously close to falling out of the child's hands. A loud snort emerged from across the room, and Yugi perked his head up even more. Joey was still here! He jumped out of bed again to carefully approached the other, but made a quick stop to gently pull the laptop from Mokuba and set it on the table beside the sleeping brothers. Yugi smiled when he saw the Web page was open to the same Superman movie that he and Mokuba had watched early the previous evening.

Yugi turned to Joey, and whispered his name and patted his good shoulder. Joey's head popped up sleepily, but he fully woke up when he saw his friend beside him.

"Hey, Yug!" he said, grinning. "For a second I thought you were Kaiba. The dumb jerk kept pushing me over all night."

"Uh...what?" Yugi asked blankly, giving Joey a look.

"Kaiba kept pushing on my shoulder whenever I tried to roll over, telling me that it would hurt a lot more if he had to push me down again," Joey groaned, motioning to his bad shoulder. "Thought he was gonna bust it open even more."

Yugi shuddered at the imagery and glanced at the resting Kaiba, shaking his head with a small smile.

"I guess that was his way of trying to help you."

"I know, I know..." Joey muttered. "I was really surprised that he even helped me. I mean, I saw him standing around out there, but he kind of seemed like he was going to ignore everything."

"I don't think he'd ignore someone in immediate trouble," Yugi said thoughtfully. "He can be a jerk but he's definitely got a heart of gold, even if he'd never admit it."

"No, Yugi, you've got the heart of gold...if anything, Money Bags over there only has a heart of rhodium or platinum."

"Joey, what does that even mean?"

Joey attempted to shrug, but winced in pain. "I dunno, those are the only metals I know of that cost more than gold."

"Are you high?" Yugi asked, laughing. He realized he hadn't really even laughed in what felt like forever.

"I wish..." the other boy muttered, referencing his pain. "Hey, how are you feeling, by the way? You guys are supposed to duel tomorrow."

Yugi considered that. "Actually, I think I'll be okay. I'm a little tired, but I think if I get some good sleep in today and tonight, we'll be good to go."

As if on cue, Kaiba stirred and lifted his head. "Yugi, what are you doing?"

"He was just telling me that if you keep your mouth shut and let him relax today, he can duel you tomorrow," Joey blurted out. Yugi rolled his violet eyes.

"He just means that if I can get enough rest today, I think I should be good to go tomorrow."

Kaiba's blue eyes widened, simply due to the fact that he'd completely forgotten about the duel for the past few days; however, he immediately covered that fact up with a sneer. "Better get back to bed then, I wouldn't want to listen to you insisting you only lost because you weren't feeling well."

"That's not his style, Seto," Mokuba pointed out sleepily, stretching his arms up and around his big brother's neck in a tight hug. Kaiba playfully pressed Mokuba's face into his chest, telling him to shush.

"Yeah, Rich Boy, that's not his style," Joey echoed, just to taunt Kaiba. Of course everybody in the room knew that wasn't how Yugi worked. Kaiba rolled his eyes and deposited Mokuba on the floor before walking over to his metal briefcase.

"Mokuba, I'm going to prepare for tomorrow. Make sure Yugi eats something, and if Wheeler annoys you too much, just remember there's plenty of cough syrup left."

Mokuba blinked. "Seto, Joey's not sick..."

Kaiba gave his brother a look. "That's not why I'm telling you to give it to him." Mokuba caught on, breaking into a smile and laughing.

"Yeah, and how would you plan on giving me that without me knowing?" Joey piped up.

Kaiba lifted his case up. "Ask Yugi," he said as he walked out the door. Yugi shook his head at that one, hiding a smile, but proceeded to curl up on his bed for a nap. The past week or so had been stressful and miserable, but it was finally time to really recover and move on to doing what he did best...playing games and beating everybody who ever challenged him.

**Author's Note:** And so ends my little attempt of cuteness. I love Kaiba's badass/jerk self, but I love the fact that he's actually not a bad guy even more, so I had fun writing about that part. Hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
